There are dozens of books, programs and techniques to “manage” your time. However, as the sage person knows, something always pops up and re-directs your attention. Distractions from your goals and missions are family issues, work issues, travel issues, and health issues to name the obvious.
Any time management skills are better than no time management skills, some are just better than others. You will see some improvement from simply becoming aware of the essence and causes of common personal time management problems. All time management systems have these basics in common;
With good time management skills you SHOULD be able to control of your time. The goal of learning time management skills is to improve your life. This improvement should be to lower your stress and increase your energy levels or to make better progress at work or maintain a balance between your work, personal, and family life and have enough flexibility to respond to surprises or new opportunities.
How’s that time-management thing working out for you?
There are always issues that will influence your ability to manage your time. Some of these issues are just not controllable be you and you need to be able to reset your priorities with the least amount of chaos in your life.
One of the biggest is procrastination. We, as a species will inherently put off those things that cause us pain. This pain can be in the form of stress, anxiety, contempt, lack of comfort and insecurity. When one or more of those emotions are activated, we put-off doing that chore, hence we procrastinate. After a while we can tolerate the procrastination easier than doing the chore and we set up a habit and then it becomes a personality trait that we accept and embrace to the point we BRAG that we are known procrastinators and try to wear the moniker like a badge of honor.
The second biggest is interruptions. Interruptions can be minimal and they can be extreme. When you are at work, all interruptions can be a significant barrier to effective time management. These interruptions could have been; phone calls, emails, hallway conversations, colleagues stopping by your office, or anything else that unexpectedly demanded your attention. Regardless they distracted you from the task at-hand. Most of us cannot recover from interruptions and get right back into the flow of our work or the task at hand. It is something that seems to be hard-wired into our minds. Once interrupted and sufficiently annoyed, we tend to not be able to jump back to the point or place where we were in a specific project and then we flounder for some time. Depending on the type and complexity of your work, it can break your focus, meaning that you have to spend additional time re-engaging with the thought processes needed to successfully complete complex work.
If you think back to yesterday (or the last day that you were at work) and review all the interruptions that occurred, how many hours did it cost you?
You only have one thing in life that you truly own and can control. Your time. Once gone, it can never be replaced. You choose how to trade it, invest it OR spend it. The only thing of value you have in life is your labor. Labor can be in the form of physical work or cerebral work. You exchange your labor for money, you don’t “earn” money, your money “earns” money in the form of interest.
So, here is a question: if you are taxed on your “earnings” is your labor which is an equal trade for money taxable? I know the ethical and legal answer for me, it is for you to determine the answer for you. Speaking of interruptions!
Anyway, back to the issue, you have allotted a specific number of hours each day to accomplish your tasks and even the smallest interruption can put you behind in your daily taks list.
The key to controlling interruptions is to know what they are and whether they are necessary, and to plan for them in your daily schedule when they truly need your attention. The tips that follow will help you do that and so prevent interruptions from frustrating you and jeopardizing your successes.
It doesn’t matter which time management ‘technique’ you use, distractions are a part of life and they will affect your time schedule. Regardless of what ‘system’ you use, you should add these to your list of rules.
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